Rory: Rahm Is Going To Be At 2025 Ryder Cup

This year in Rome we had just one LIV player in Brooks Koepka at the Ryder Cup. In two years' time it would seem unfathomable that Jon Rahm won't be part of Team Europe following his move to LIV.

Not that any of them, maybe Sergio Garcia, were in line for a place on Luke Donald's team this year but the likes of Ian Poulter, Lee Westwood and Garcia were ineligible to play in Rome after resigning their membership from the DP World Tour.

Rahm remains a member of his home Tour and is keen to maintain that though there is plenty to be ironed out in terms of the eligibility criteria for the 2025 European Ryder Cup team and, before that, how the proposed merger between the DP World and PGA Tours and the Saudi PIF.

The prospect of Rahm not making a fourth appearance is a hugely unlikely one – in September he contributed an unbeaten three points from four matches and you could easily argue that he was the most impressive player on either team.

"Jon is going to be in Bethpage in 2025. Because of this decision, the European Tour is going to have to rewrite the rules for Ryder Cup eligibility. There's absolutely no question about that - I certainly want Jon Rahm on the next Ryder Cup team," McIlroy said.

"He has got so much talent, he's so tenacious and he's a great team-mate in the Ryder Cup. The thing that I've realised is that you can't judge someone for making a decision that they feel is the best thing for them."

McIlroy was questioned on X about his supposed change of heart but he replied: "We need Jon. We didn't NEED any of the others in Rome and we didn't miss them. We'd certainly miss and need Jon at Bethpage."

As for the move itself McIlroy was more circumspect than in the past where he quickly became the mouthpiece of the anti-LIV brigade.

"Is it disappointing to me? Yes, but the landscape of golf changed on 6 June, when the framework agreement was announced, it legitimised basically what LIV was trying to do, and I think because of that it made the jump from the PGA Tour to LIV a little bit easier for guys."

Rahm himself added that he hoped to play on the DP World and PGA Tours in the future.

"I will not give that up and hopefully with the freedom that LIV Golf gives me I can play in both of those tours as well. I've expressed how important the Spanish Open is to me in the past, and if we ever reached that point [to play in] certain PGA Tour events, I still want to go and play as long as my schedule allows. So if possible, we'll see what we can make happen."